Concrete Strip Roads For Farms
Concrete Strip Roads For Farms
Concrete Strip Roads For Farms
2. design Drainage
Dimensions The strips should be built with a longitudinal slope of at least
Except in long curves (where strips should be widened as 1 in 100 (10 mm in 1 m) to ensure that stormwater will drain
required), strips 600 mm wide and 1 500 mm apart, centre to off the road. In addition, longitudinal edge drains should be
centre, are recommended, as shown in Figure 1. considered where rainwater may tend to accumulate on the
road, or where steep slopes may cause erosion of the road
shoulders. Such drains should be constructed at least 1 m from
1 500 mm centre to centre the edge of the strips and an extra width of prepared roadway
will thus be necessary. The roadway should be suitably sloped
600 900 600 between the strips and the edge drains.
T Subgrade
All top soil must be removed to a depth of at least 150 mm
Subgrade Concrete
before the strips are constructed. The foundation below the
concrete strips is called the subgrade and this must be
Figure 1: Cross section of road compacted by using tampers or heavy rollers until it is firm.
Wheel tracks should be widened by 100 mm on the inside of Before excavating the strips, check the ground levels and
curves and by 150 mm on sharp bends. correct any irregularities otherwise the strips will follow the
undulations of the natural ground.
In all figures concrete thickness is indicated by “T”.
If during excavation of strips, soft, wet or unstable areas are
The minimum thickness of concrete is as follows: detected, excavate such areas 300 mm deep and replace the
excavated material with well compacted, granular fill.
Maximum vehicle load 3,5 tons
(ordinary farm traffic) 120 mm
Vehicle loads up to 5,5 tons 155 mm
Vehicle loads up to 7,5 tons 175 mm
T/
T 4 all without anchors.
This panel
placed first
Radius 6 mm
Panel anchors and anchor blocks are the same width as the strips. For steep slopes where relatively stiff concrete will be necessary,
The recesses in the subgrade to form the panel anchors should be consideration should be given to the use of a vibrating screed
excavated shortly before the concrete is cast. board for compacting the concrete. This consists essentially of
a timber (or steel) member which can span across the forms
At the end of a strip road, the last panel should be thickened and which has a vibrator attached to it at about mid-span. Only
as in Figure 6, unless it is an anchor block, to prevent damage a small motor – possibly 100 to 200 W – is required. A poker
by traffic. vibrator would also be satisfactory. But if vibratory equipment is
not available, it must be accepted that a fair amount of physical
effort on the part of the laying gang will be needed to compact
the concrete.